The Ethnicity and Cultural Background of the Staff, Essay Example

The ethnicity and cultural background of the staff and of the service users are so diverse, that we have someone from Cameroon, Nigeria, Afro American, Ghana, Caucasian, Black American and Jamaica. They all accept each other’s background with respect and even all the service users are assigned a day to cook. During a person’s day to cookthey cook what they want even if it is their own traditional food. The staff members also accept each other’s cultural backgrounds. Not all of the staff and service users are Christians, some are Hindu and Muslim but work around what best suits them without hurting other’s feeling.

After asking my supervisor about the part of the program that should ensure their cultural competence, she told me they do have training for the staff. This training is either eLearning or onsite training.  Some of these eLearning courses focus on how to deal with a crisis(i.e.administering medication etc.). Also, a staff member will be appointed to go for a general meeting on behalf of the agency and then come back to teach all the members onsite. My supervisor actually said, if not for the training, she wouldn’t know that in some cultures you can’t shake hands with a male if you are a female, or look someone in the eyes. To her, she thought maybe the individual is being withdrawn, but the onsite training helped her understand their culture better.

After reviewing the PRA’s Multi-Cultural principles, my impression on their program’s level of cultural competence is very positive. This is because their awareness and knowledge is increased and well developed. Also, through their programs they have learned not to discriminate, but to respect and accept other’s language, religion, ethnicity and gender. The challenges I might face, however, could be that most of the service users have no family that visit them. Families are, however, one of the natural resources that can help the staff and myself better interpret behaviors attached to culture and incorporate it into a recovery plan.